Professional Tax Return Preparer Convicted for Preparing False Tax Returns

PORTLAND, Maine: A Brunswick man was found guilty on October 29, 2025, of aiding and assisting the preparation of false tax returns for others and of filing false tax returns for himself following a three-day jury trial in U.S. District Court in Portland.

According to court records and testimony at trial, Lawrence Okeyo, 48, was a professional tax return preparer in Portland. He prepared tax returns for others in exchange for a fee. Okeyo often collected his preparation fees, which sometimes exceeded $1,000, from the tax refunds issued to his clients. Okeyo falsified his clients’ tax returns by claiming bogus, unreimbursed employee expenses that can be deducted only by a limited set of professionals: Armed Forces reservists, qualified performing artists, fee-basis state or local government officials, and employees with impairment-related work expenses. Neither Okeyo nor his clients met these qualifications. By falsifying tax returns, Okeyo generated or inflated unwarranted tax refunds for his clients and himself. Okeyo also prepared a false tax return for an undercover IRS agent posing as a client. During his interactions with the undercover agent, Okeyo told the agent, “I know that you should pay [taxes]. What I’m wanting to do is save you from paying.” Okeyo then fabricated supposed business expenses on the tax return he prepared for the undercover agent. Okeyo advised the undercover agent that, if he was audited, he would not be able to prove that he was entitled to claim the expenses.

Okeyo faces up to three years of imprisonment for each of the 18 false tax returns he was convicted of preparing and filing. He will be sentenced after the completion of a presentence investigative report by the U.S. Probation Office. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation investigated this case.

Editor’s Note:
This matter occurred on the date indicated, but the press release was not published at that time due to the federal government shutdown. The release was posted and made available following the return to normal operations.

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